I was really hoping that X-Factor could make it out of Messiah Complex relatively unscathed. I just love that book so much and I get nervous when changes have to be made because it got bowled over by an event...even if it is a good one like Messiah Complex.

See, I like X-Factor a lot, but I don't think it's completely lived up to its potential. It got waaaaay too wrapped up in the Decimation (which should've been handled by the X-books proper), the Civil War and now Messiah Complex.

What I want to see is a more self-contained book about mutant detectives, that takes traditional film noir story types and twists them into the X-world.

I'd also like more Madrox. The issues of him tracking down his rogue dupes were maybe my favorite of the new run.

MasterWhedon wrote:See, I like X-Factor a lot, but I don't think it's completely lived up to its potential. It got waaaaay too wrapped up in the Decimation (which should've been handled by the X-books proper), the Civil War and now Messiah Complex.

What I want to see is a more self-contained book about mutant detectives, that takes traditional film noir story types and twists them into the X-world.

I'd also like more Madrox. The issues of him tracking down his rogue dupes were maybe my favorite of the new run.

Which sadly isn't really Peter David's fault. Marvel keeps tossing these giant crossovers that affect X-Factor quite a bit and it takes a little away from what I believe he's trying to do with his own storylines.

Oh and I can't believe I left out Astonishing X-Men out of my favorite X-Books comment from earlier. I've been a bad Whedon fan lately.

MW, LS EDIT: or Spiffy, or someone else...can you fill me in on where we are with Astonishing? Not the story line. I started quite late to the series, bought a few books, and then haven't bought anything for 7 months (which means I missed, what, like 2 books, heh).

What book are we on now? How much longer is Whedon going to keep going? And most importantly, should I finally go and pick all of these up? If Whedon's done with his run soon, then I might wait until they all get packed up in a couple of compilations...

Lord Voldemoo wrote:MW, LS EDIT: or Spiffy, or someone else...can you fill me in on where we are with Astonishing? Not the story line. I started quite late to the series, bought a few books, and then haven't bought anything for 7 months (which means I missed, what, like 2 books, heh).

What book are we on now? How much longer is Whedon going to keep going? And most importantly, should I finally go and pick all of these up? If Whedon's done with his run soon, then I might wait until they all get packed up in a couple of compilations...

#23 was the last to ship. We've only got #24 and Giant-Sized Astonishing X-Men #1 left. Expect them in early 2014.

If you can, I'd suggest waiting until it's all wrapped-up to read them in trade. It's been brilliant, but the wait between issues is maddening and the story will read much better when collected.

Lord Voldemoo wrote:MW, LS EDIT: or Spiffy, or someone else...can you fill me in on where we are with Astonishing? Not the story line. I started quite late to the series, bought a few books, and then haven't bought anything for 7 months (which means I missed, what, like 2 books, heh).

What book are we on now? How much longer is Whedon going to keep going? And most importantly, should I finally go and pick all of these up? If Whedon's done with his run soon, then I might wait until they all get packed up in a couple of compilations...

At the moment we are at #23 with #24 coming out this month. After that we only have one more issue left, which is Giant Size Astonishing X-Men #1. It is massively oversized and completes the Whedon/Cassiday run on the book. After that, Warren Ellis and Simone Binachi take over the reigns.

Whedo, Spiff is 100% correct. David has had the X-overs forced on him. That's exactly why he quit X-Factor the first time around, but they seem to be fucking him a bit more gently right now. Only Whedon seems immune from forced X-over tie-ins.

"If we don't believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don't believe in it at all." -- Noam Chomsky

Wow, the days of the X-titles have changed so much since I read the funny-books... I think I gave up somewhere around Executioner's Song (X-ecutioner?). I bought X-Force #1 because I was that kid who bought all the gatefold, die-cut, hologram, foil-print, poly-bagged, collector card included #1s. I started reading X-Men with Jim Lee's #1. I had no idea what the fuck was going on because I didn't read X-Men at all prior to that. All these characters in the middle of a crazy situation... what a horrible way to start a #1.

Anyways, it sounds like AXM is in good hands. I'll actually check it out once it hits trades I think. It'll be one of the first comics I've purchased in a loooooooooong time.

New X-Factor has a few interesting moments, though there's a horrible expository monologue that's essentially unmotivated.

Question for those who read a wide range of X-books. There are currently a few hundred mutants, reduced from millions first by the Genosha massacre, then M day. Mutations occur naturally due to cosmic radiation, chemical exposure and DNA replication errors. I've got the idea things are similar in Marvel 616. So why aren't the 6 billion humans on earth producing mutants? Did Wanda somehow suppress, worldwide, genetic change? Seems a stretch.

"If we don't believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don't believe in it at all." -- Noam Chomsky

What I meant was, is she somehow suppressing the creation of the X-gene in embryos today? Those 16 million mutants killed in Genosha and however many more Wanda depowered didn't all come from mutant parents by any means. That mutation doesn't breed true has been established in the past. Mutants don't necessarily have mutant children. This means that before M-Day there had to be a great many spontaneous mutations appearing in embryos without mutant parents. Why haven't such mutant children been born since M-Day?

So Prof. X gets shot in the head by Bishop and there's the page of Charles laying dead (?) until the last panel when he seems to have mysteriously dissappeared.

Question is if this was an artist mistake that the editor missed or was there a method to the madness?

I tend to think it was done on purpose. It'd seem to be too big of a mistake to just not draw such an important part of art. So either Xavier himself wanted the X-Men to believe he was dead or someone else did. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out.

Bison: [to his architect] The temple above us was the wonder of the ancient world. Bisonopolis shall be the wonder of my world. But I think the food court should be larger. All the big franchises will want in.

The solicitations for "Divided We Stand" are up HERE, and I have to say I really like the direction the books are taking. Feels much more like The Initiative aftermath of Civil War than the kinda crappy Decimation aftermath of House of M. Like, the entire mutant world was changed by one really, really big event and the fallout is where we're going to set out stories for the next few years. The formation of the teams and the directions of the new books aren't "traditional" for the X-Men, necessarily, but I think that works for it. It's a world turned upside down, and that's a fun place to be for a while before we inevitably get back to Cyclops deciding to rebuild the school and put the students back in class, etc. etc.

Also, Astonishing... is love. I say they should've made Giant-Sized #1 into a double-sized #25 and gone out on a big anniversary bang, but that's me. It's all climax from this point out, and it's all been brilliant. I still wish the book was ending with this storyline, as I don't see Astonishing fitting into the Divided mold. But whatev, if they can keep making standalone stories like these, I'll be there every time.

Completely random thought: One of the coolest moments for me of the entire Whedon run was the last page of AXM #23. Not because Cyke sat up and had red eyes. It's because he thought, "To me, my X-Men." That was Xavier's first (telepathic) line in the original X-Men #1.

I guess it should have been, "To me, my Astonishing X-Men."

"If we don't believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don't believe in it at all." -- Noam Chomsky

One of the guys in the CBR forums nailed it: it's gotta be a Legacy cover. Finch is drawing all of the other covers for that book, mostly featuring prominent X-villains of the past. Dark Phoenix, the Brood, Cassandra Nova, some zombie thing (?!)--methinks that's it.

And I could swear Mike Carey said recently there was no intention of brining Jean back any time soon, even with the maybe-hints of her as the baby in Messiah Complex. I think it'll be a long while before we see her again outside of another Endsong/Warsong.

One of the guys in the CBR forums nailed it: it's gotta be a Legacy cover. Finch is drawing all of the other covers for that book, mostly featuring prominent X-villains of the past. Dark Phoenix, the Brood, Cassandra Nova, some zombie thing (?!)--methinks that's it.

And I could swear Mike Carey said recently there was no intention of brining Jean back any time soon, even with the maybe-hints of her as the baby in Messiah Complex. I think it'll be a long while before we see her again outside of another Endsong/Warsong.

I don't know if it's so far out of the question if only it seems they've been printing off a lot of covers/comics with the Jean Grey Phoenix for a while now. There was a promo image for the Secret Invasion where she was featured with a group of other still living characters and they're also using her in Marvel Zombies 2.

Spifftacular SquirrelGirl wrote:I don't know if it's so far out of the question if only it seems they've been printing off a lot of covers/comics with the Jean Grey Phoenix for a while now. There was a promo image for the Secret Invasion where she was featured with a group of other still living characters and they're also using her in Marvel Zombies 2.

Right, but the fact that it's a Finch cover featuring seemingly-unrelated villains leads me to believe it's not a new story about them all combining forces, but rather another of the "Xavier's splintered consciousness" stories where his mind keeps jumping around in the past and present.

If Jean does return--I think she will with time--I don't think it will be for quite a while, at least not until we discover the true nature/identity of the mutant baby. Five more years, is my bet.

ONeillSG1 wrote:Anyone care to comment on X-Force #1 or is there another thread for it already?

I'll wait for you to respond before I go on a diatribe.

You can discuss it here...or write a review in the Comics Review thread. I reviewed it. It was better than I expected, but my expectations were quite low. Not sure it justifies a new on-going, but we'll see.

Yeah it sucks for many reasons. For one, I hate the fate of the character. Just sucks. Especially after what Joss had done for the character.

Second, I hate how it was spoiled outside of Astonishing. I mean, I get that Astonishing is SUPER SUPER SUPER SUPER late and that if it does fit into Marvel continuity that they can't hold out forever and slow down their plans considerably to accommodate this one book...but at the same time is just fucking blows to have such a major plot point ruined. And I didn't even read Uncanny, I just stumbled onto a message board that posted the fucking spoiler in the title thread (which I fucking loathe btw. Newsarama's message boards are the domain of satan).

And, on that note, let's talk X-Force #2. It's crap. It's not the great tureen of vomit I'd been expecting, but it's crap. First, any comic that revives Nimrod/Bastion is a loser in my book. Nimrod was boring 20 years ago and he's boring today. The Marvel Universe needs a Crisis so it can write out all of the alternate timeline X-stories.

So, Rahne has already been shot in the knee and gets off at best with a limp, according to Logan. Sure. How long will that last? Will she return to X-Factor, a non-fight comic where a limping lycanthrope remains useful? Not from what we've heard. Will she at least be leaving X-Force immediately because of it? Doubtful. She'll somehow be better within a few months.

The members of X-Force wear black. This can be useful in night operations. However, they are as likely to operate during the day as at night, not to mention that regardless of light conditions they're running around in black SUPERHERO COSTUMES with lenses that make their eyes red. They're so inconspicuous I can hardly see them while I'm reading.

"If we don't believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don't believe in it at all." -- Noam Chomsky